23:53 - Sunny PagliaccioNote to self: Do NOT open links on max volume in the middle of a quiet night. Otherwise, not bad. :D

23:52 - ApothecaryFast food workers planning a strike in support of $15/hour wages next month. I'm a tutor in a reading lab at a college and I don't even make that much, a bit of an overestimation of one's importance, don'tcha think?

Now that the singer situation is resolved, after Floor Jansen joined the band permanently, Nightwish have released the first full video clip out of their upcoming live release Showtime, Storytime, which hits stores via Nuclear Blast on November 29th. The band chose to release a clip of the song "Storytime" from the latest Imaginaerum opus.

The trailer of the Showtime, Storytime live release can still be viewed over here. The DVD was directed by Ville Lipiäinen and filmed at Wacken Open Air 2013. More details were reported here.

So I've been limited to two professionally released videos of her performing live with Nightwish, as well as the ever-expanding list of complete garbage phone-quality live videos. All of it is old material intended to be sung by two singers, who she is not.

I have not seen this level of energy in either previous vocalist during a live performance, as what is seen with Floor here. Now I know it's not her song, as in it wasn't written with "I wonder if Floor will ever perform this song" in mind, so she has some quite a bit of freedom in regards to how she performs it live, whereas the goals of the previous two singers are to perform as accurate to the album as possible (with this same exception for Anette playing Tarja's songs). If Tarja was Nightwish's "neo-classical-metal" (if that's even a word) days, Anette was their more modern/experimental days, I can't wait to see what Tuomas can do with their balls-to-the-wall energy days.

By the by, I think that is part of Nightwish's ever growing fame and fan-base. Most bands will lose a member and want a replacement, not a new member. Look at bands like Dream Theater; they lose Portnoy and auditioned for a replacement who can play like Portnoy. Nightwish has clearly demonstrated they don't want replacements, they want new singers (e.g. Tuomas stated they would never play Phantom of the Opera live after Tarja left), and Tuomas is willing, and has demonstrated that he is fully capable of adapting his writing to best fit the vocalist. It may take one album to find their footing with her (as it took with Anette with Dark Passion Play), but I have no doubt we'll be looking at a fantastic new edge.

All the above of course hinges on Floor not getting Nightwished™ out of the band too quickly.

By the by, I think that is part of Nightwish's ever growing fame and fan-base. Most bands will lose a member and want a replacement, not a new member. Look at bands like Dream Theater; they lose Portnoy and auditioned for a replacement who can play like Portnoy. Nightwish has clearly demonstrated they don't want replacements, they want new singers (e.g. Tuomas stated they would never play Phantom of the Opera live after Tarja left), and Tuomas is willing, and has demonstrated that he is fully capable of adapting his writing to best fit the vocalist. It may take one album to find their footing with her (as it took with Anette with Dark Passion Play), but I have no doubt we'll be looking at a fantastic new edge.

All the above of course hinges on Floor not getting Nightwished™ out of the band too quickly.

I agree with you, Nightwish has been criticized for changing their style with the last album but actually it fitted Anette's voice very well. If their next album is made for Floor it could even sound a bite like After Forever with an epic edge, who knows? Without getting over-enthusiastic, I think the band has found its best vocalist ever. Never have Tarja or Anette sent shivers down my spine with a live performance. If you've watched Floor sing "Ghost Love Score", you know what I mean.

Never have Tarja or Anette sent shivers down my spine with a live performance. If you've watched Floor sing "Ghost Love Score", you know what I mean.

For me (just my opinion), Tarja (and Marco) still deliver full body shivers during the final chorus of Ever Dream on her last performance with them. Having Marco sing alongside Tarja to the Jukka drilling the double bass, that still gets me to stop what I'm doing and listen every time it comes up on the playlist.

That said, I'm not taking back what I said about energy and Floor and all in my previous comment, because frankly I think it was Marco's background vocals in that chorus (that, so far as I can tell, has not been repeated live since, damn them!) that really pushed that song over the top. I can understand why they wouldn't have done that with Anette, with her style and all not fitting the same way Marco's voice fits with Tarja's, but now we're talking two of some of the most unique and energetic voices in the symphonic metal genre. Put those two together for a synchronous duet = head asplode!

Looking forward to a new NW album with Floor and Troy, however it kind of breaks my heart a bit seeing Floor perform Storytime here. It goes better with Annette imo, but of course Imaginaerum was Annettes album, just as Ghost Love Score etc. was suited for Tarja. I'm sure whenever the new material is released the songs will be tailor made for Floor.

That was fantastic. I saw Nightwish last year just before Anette left, and I have to say I wish I saw them with Floor. Definitely getting a ticket when they come back around. She's a keeper, let's hope they keep her!

Floor could definitely put Nightwish back on the charts, but I think some of the band's recent detractors haven't liked the direction of Tuomas' compositions. I liked Imaginaerum well enough for a few listens but it got plodding and boring after awhile. Floor will be a great addition for sure, but she needs good songs to sing to!

I never liked Nightwish, not with Tarja Turunen and even much less with Anette Olzon. And I don't like female vocalists in Metal.

That being said, I must say that this singer as a hell of a voice and energy. A female Metal singer who sent chills down my spine is something I very rarely experienced in my life but she succeeded here.
I don't know is she's always so impressive but if it's the case she could do wonders for this band, Imo.